Infant and Child Health

Are Sleep Spindles Associated with Neurocognitive Deficits in Children with Sleep Disordered Breathing?

Suitability: Honours/PhD/Masters

Location: Department of Paediatrics, Level 5 Monash Children’s Hospital Project Leaders: Prof Rosemary Horne Email: rosemary.horne@monash.edu Phone: 8572 2827

Project Description: A particular phenomenon of the electroencephalography (EEG) wave form is the sleep spindle, believed to function as mechanism through which long-term changes are made in the neocortex and as a mechanism for maintaining sleep. Sleep spindles have also been associated with different aspects of cognitive performance in healthy children.

Sleep disordered breathing (SDB), is a very common condition in children, and has been associated with neurocognitive deficits. To date, it is not known whether the poor neurocognition in children with SDB is related to a loss of sleep spindles. This study will investigate sleep spindles in children with SDB and determine if there is an association between sleep spindle numbers and neurocognitive deficits. The student will be involved in conducting sleep studies (polysomnography) and analysis of electroencephalography data.

Interprofessional simulation-based education

Suitability: Honours/PhD

Location: Department of Paediatrics, Level 5 Monash Children’s Hospital Project Leaders: Dr Atul Malhotra, Dr Arunaz Kumar Email: atul.malhotra@hudson.org.au

Project Description: Opportunities exist to be part of Monash Children's Simulation Centre, which is co-chaired by Dr Malhotra. Evaluation of ongoing and new interprofessional education workshops will be involved in the research.

Obstructive sleep apnoea in children with Down syndrome

Suitability: Honours/Masters by Research, PhD

Location: Department of Paediatrics, Level 5 Monash Children’s Hospital Project Leaders: Prof Rosemary Horne, A/Prof Gillian Nixon Email: rosemary.horne@monash.edu Phone: 03 8572 2827 (Prof Horne)

Project Description: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) affects 30%-80% of children with Down Syndrome (DS). Different countries have proposed different guidelines to clinicians for screening for the condition, with American guidelines recommending routine sleep studies at 4 years of age and British guidelines recommending simpler overnight oximetry at home. As OSA can occur at any age, a single sleep study at a given age is an expensive and poorly targeted intervention. In addition, the benefits of treatment for OSA are poorly defined in children with DS, raising questions about the value of aggressive screening. We have recently shown that normally developing children benefit from treatment of OSA in terms of IQ, particularly in tasks associated with spatial visualisation, visual-motor coordination, abstract thought, and nonverbal fluid reasoning, and that elevated blood pressure returns to control levels. We now postulate that improvements in similar domains in children with DS might make substantial differences to their health and well-being. In this study we will quantify the impact of OSA on children with DS, especially in terms of adaptive functioning, quality of life and cardiovascular functioning, and determine the effect of treatment of OSA on these parameters. This will provide crucial information to guide clinical recommendations for screening and treatment of OSA in DS. Collection of relevant clinical data will secondarily allow us to develop screening tools for OSA in this population